Makoumbou and Cagliari at Monte Claro for the event “Youth and Inclusion”

Words are not enough to fight racism. We need gestures, actions, daily choices. We need to be there. And they were there: hundreds of boys and girls filled the Monte Claro park with their energy, their desire to really be there, to be part of something bigger.

This time, it was football, music, art, and face-to-face confrontation that spoke . Inclusion had the sound of chants from the stands, the rhythm of steps on the field, the color of canvases painted together.

The demonstration “Youth and Inclusion: the future of Metropolitan Cities”, organized as part of the XXI Week of Action against Racism promoted by Unar , saw students, associations and even Cagliari Calcio take to the field, with the special presence of midfielder Antoine Makoumbou. An icon of talent and integration, a boy who knows well what it means to break down barriers, welcomed by young people with the respect and admiration reserved for those who, with facts, demonstrate that the world really does change, one step at a time.

At the tournament between students of the Giua Institute, the Martini ITE and the Michelangelo and Pacinotti high schools, not only goals, but also the desire and ability to play and be together, to recognize oneself in the other. The Martini Ite won, followed by the Michelangelo, but the most important award went to the Giua Institute for fair play and to the Pacinotti for inclusion.

Then came the moment of the Asd Gioventù Calcio Assemini - team Arieti, a team made up of disabled kids, who played a friendly match capable of exciting and teaching more than a thousand words.

Meanwhile, in the multipurpose room, the debate saw the metropolitan deputy mayor Francesco Lilliu and the pedagogist Monica Mandis confront the kids : «Inclusion is not a gesture, it is a process», underlined Mandis. «We can choose whether to see in others a threat or an opportunity. Whether to build walls or bridges. The choice is up to us».

To close the day, music, art and creativity, between dance performances, musical contests and artistic performances, inclusion took a thousand different forms, demonstrating that there is not just one way to say no to racism. The important thing is to say it, always .